Black activist assesses Jackson campaign

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By KWAME M. A. SOMBURU I spoke recently with Kenneth Nunn, a Black community activist who worked here in Oakland, Calif., in the Jesse Jackson campaign. Nunn, like many supporters of the Rainbow Coalition, became critical of Jackson for tying his campaign to Democratic Party policy.

Nunn told me that he had met the Rev. Jackson in Birmingham, Ala., when Jackson was first talking about running for president. 1 nina for nracident 66T was opposed to his running" Nunn said. "1 thought he represented an old-line middle-class attitude toward the problems that Black people face. I saw this in his efforts to get agreements with business corporations that had no impact upon the needs of most Black people." Jesse Jackson Nunn continued, "Later, I heard him talk while gearing up for his campaign in Atlanta and in Washington, D.C. It was clear to me then that Jackson was the only public figure who was talking about poor peoples' issues. At the March on Washington in August of last year everyone else was saying, 'Let's make some kind of memorial about everything that happened in the past. Only Jackson, as far as the major speakers were concerned, focused on doing something for poor people now. I thought it was important to support him while he was making those kinds of statements."

Nunn believes that the successful in putting forth Despite overcast skies and sporadic drizzle, over 15,000 spirited demonstrators participated in a mile-long march down Chicago's Michigan Ave. to Grant Park. The march culminated there in a nuclear-freeze rally sponsored by more than 265 church groups, freeze activists, union locals, peace and women's organizations, liberal Democrats, socialist organizations, and Central America solidarity and anti-intervention forces.

The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Casa El Salvador, and other solidarity organizations joined the demonstration, as did community-based anti-intervention groups such as the Evanston Committee on Central America. The participation of these groups signified the success of the freeze movement's first attempt to build a major demonstration incorporating anti-intervention issues. "No more Vietnams" was a major slogan, along with "Meet Human Needs" and "Nuclear Freeze Now."

Among the rally speakers were leaders of the freeze movement, including Randall Forsberg and Dr. Helen Caldicott; former UAW President Leonard Woodcock; longtime peace activist David Dellinger; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Guadalupe Gonzalez of El Salvador's Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR) ; and disabled Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic.

Although "Dump Reagan" and "Vote Peace" were major themes of most speakers, anti-intervention concerns were raised as well. "Every Third World nation is threatened with intervention by the Reagan administration, said Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. Washington blasted the cost of the arms race, pointing out that the Chicago public schools could run a year for the price of a single Trident missile and Jackson campaign was a positive self-image for Black people. "I think that Jackson's presence, his obvious intelligence and articulateness, and his command of the issues was a good thing, for example, for a young Black kid who watches TV and ordinarily sees things from the view of white corporate America, Nunn emphasized.

"As far as political development is concerned, Nunn continued, "the problem with the Rainbow Coalition was that no real efforts were made to mobilize Black people as an independent movement. There were only top-down efforts to get Black people into the Democratic Party. The problem is that, once the election is over, there will be no on-going pressure for social activism. No structure, no ideology, no nothing."

Nunn believes that Jesse Jackson's statements of loyalty to the Democratic Party throughout his campaign were simply a tactical maneuver taken "in order to avoid a lot of divisive struggling."

Nevertheless, this was a mistake, Nunn told me. "It reduced Jackson to a bulldog on a chain,, he said. "Jackson chained himself by saying that he was not going to leave the Democratic Party, that he was not going to put forth demands that the party had to accept in order to maintain what was an uneasy alliance in the first place."

Congressional Black Caucus

We discussed the recent gathering of the Congi essional Black Caucus, which took place on Sept. 30. About 15,000 Blacks participated. The headline on the article in the New York Times that reported on the meeting read: "Pessimism marks gathering of Black lawmakers.

Nunn pointed out that Jesse Jackson was present at the September meeting, although he had been ostracized by members of the Black Caucus a year ago. "When Jackson first started his movement, Nunn said, "there was a realignment of forces. The people supporting Jackson were young. They were militant. They wanted to see some changes happenHe continued, 'It seems now that the Jackson movement has slowed down to a trickle or a stop. And Jackson's presence at the Black Caucus meeting means he must have become a lot more acceptable to that grouping."

Nunn believes that the lack of leadership by Black politicians was demonstrated at the time of the U.S. invasion of Grenada. "They knew it was wrong. They had information. Some of them had long-running contacts with the revolutionary government of Grenada. But they felt that it would be politically suicidal to take the government to task for its actions."

I pointed out that Jesse Jackson has continued to campaign for Mondale, even though Mondale has said that if he had been president a year ago, he, too, would have ordered an invasion of the island. "I think the proper response of the Black leadership should have been to immediately condemn Walter Mondale for his remarks, Nunn replied. "They should have put the heat on him and forced him to retract that statement if the Democrats were interested in getting their support."

I asked Nunn his opinion of an event in September in which the Mississippi chairman of the Rainbow Coalition, Johnny Walls, decided not to run as an independent Black candidate for the Senate. Jesse Jackon had asked him to withdraw in favor of the white Democratic Party nominee.

"I think that was probably a big mistake, Nunn responded. "It goes back to the old lesser of two evils. I think that Jackson was doing a lot of singing and dancing on behalf of the Democratic Party at this point in time."

"It would be good for a Black to run as an independent? Nunn concluded, "because that is going to get Black people to organize their own institutions even if they don't elect an individual to office. As a matter of fact, we've had Black people in the House and Senate for a number of years, yet things have been worse politically and economically for Blacks in the last ten years than during the Great Depression. I think that running an independent Black candidate will demonstrate the ability that Black people can have as a political group."